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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Story and the Teller

The ClassicAndCozy blogging group is made up of writers
who were all published by Avalon Books, well-known as a publisher of clean and
sweet mystery, romance, westerns, primarily for libraries. Now, that option has
expanded but the premise, for most of us, has stuck.

My particular genres are romance and
women’s fiction. I like a happy ending. I like building a world where things
work out for the best, no matter what traumatic events my characters have to
face. Whether it’s infertility, child custody battles, professional jealousy,
office bullying, ethnic prejudice (Salsa
Dancing with Pterodactyls), or divorce and lost love (Wait a Lonely Lifetime), abandonment, the death of a parent, losing
a job (Nights Before) or seeking a
home, war, oppression (as in my historical novels), my characters triumph.

And that is not always a simple task, even for the writer of
the story. There is no guarantee that characters behave as you expect, nor that
their difficulties have a believable solution. The objective is verisimilitude
or, at least, plausibility. The exceptions are Fantasy and SciFi but, even then,
there are rules and conventions.

As a reader, I want to be included, drawn in and given an
opportunity to learn something new, experience a new world. As a writer, making
that possible for readers is hard work, especially if we want it to look easy.

I once heard a writer describe himself as “a difficult poet,”
taking pride that his work is obscure, intentionally beyond the comprehension of the
reader. To me, that reeks of arrogance and a wish to appear superior. A former
colleague told me she did not trust the audiences of her dance performances to
understand so she explained everything—talking down to them. What is the point of either position?

We all have a story to tell, our story, important to us. The
impulse to tell our stories is part of our primordial DNA, from the first
recognition of a common language, from the first fireside chat, our species has
told stories and every one of them has been told and retold in a thousand
different guises over the millennia of human history. And yet, we still tell
our stories, whether they are about our own experience or based on the seven plots of humankind,
or twenty or thirty-six depending on who has written the analysis!

We love these stories because they are about us. We all face
these conflicts: ask my husband about #4!

Vladimir Propp defined thirty-one functions of a hero’s journey beginning
with ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the
home environment and ending with WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne
(is rewarded/promoted).

Where is your story in the scheme of human storytelling? What
do you expect from a writer when you enter the world of their story?

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This is the 100th blog post for Classic & Cozy. Happy Centennial Blog!

Leigh is the author of Wait a Lonely Lifetime, Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls and the serial novel by installment, Nights Before, set in her native Maine. Leigh also writes Welsh Medieval Romance under the pen name, Lily Dewaruile.

10 comments:

Nice post. It's so true - characters don't always behave as we expect or how the reader wants them to. If a character can get an emotional response ( good or bad) from the reader than the writer has done a good job.

Mine behave very badly and take me places I don't want to go. I read recently that Edel Leon had the same problem. He wrote and wrote and wrote and edited and edited until something actually began to make sense - his road of discovery.

Hi Leigh - very thoughtful post. I am not a big fan of the hero's journey. While I am sure my heroes do follow the path, trying to keep it in mind stifles my creativity. I never analyze what I have written until it is done and I am doing copy edits for some editor who wants to make it perfect; which, by human nature, it never is.

Is there a formula to writing? Perhaps. Finding one makes good seminars, but even after I listen carefully and take notes, I just write, forgetting all I have learned.In the end, I just want to write a story I enjoyed writing and hopefully readers will enjoy reading.

Leigh, I like to learn new things when I read too and sometimes that doesn't mean a new or exotic locate. Sometimes it's a challenge to look at a familiar subject from a different angle. Often as writers, our characters take us down unexpected paths. That's one of the most exciting parts of being a writer.

So true, Sandy. I have had to delve deep in the darkest regions of my psyche to find the character I'm looking for... Horribly, she's there! Even worse, I know her too well. Maleficent has nothing on some of my ladies.

Good for you, Sydell. The temptation to follow the crowd is always a threat to the writer's integrity. The real success is in fulfilling your own expectations. Popularity is multi-edged, not all of them useful to the creative process.

Hi Leigh--Interesting post. I like to reach readers and stir their emotions. I agree with you about the artists you mention who aim to be "arrogant and superior" to their readers or audience. I think they do not realize that they are not connecting with their audience and are actually annoying them (us).Victoria M. Johnson--